SKU: 24577
Quantity selected exceeds current stock
WHAT WE LOVE:
Arita is a small town on the Japanese island of Kyushu that has been synonymous with fine porcelain for over four hundred years — the spiritual home of Japanese ceramics, whose blue-and-white export pieces were so prized in seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe that they influenced the entire trajectory of Western decorative arts. The Seiko Presage SPB445J places a dial made in that tradition, by craftsmen working in that town, on the wrist at a price point that no Swiss manufacturer could replicate with comparable material.
The dial is a single piece of Arita porcelain, produced by master craftsman Hiroyuki Hashiguchi and his colleagues at Shingama, a manufacturer in Arita that has been creating porcelain since 1830. Each dial blank is formed in a mould from porcelain powder, dried, and fired at 1,300°C before being hand-glazed and fired again — a process repeated three times in total, building layers of translucent glaze over the pure white "Hakuji" surface that give it the lustrous, slightly enamelled quality that photographs consistently underrepresent and that immediately distinguishes it from any printed or lacquered dial.
Reviewers and collectors have directly compared the visual effect to the Seiko Credor Eichi II — one of the most celebrated and expensive Japanese dress watches ever produced. The SPB445J costs a small fraction of that price, and delivers a dial experience that earns the comparison.
WHAT'S INSIDE:
The SPB445J is powered by Seiko's Calibre 6R5H — a 24-jewel automatic movement beating at 21,600 vibrations per hour with both automatic and manual winding capability. The 72-hour power reserve — three full days from a complete wind — is a useful specification for a dress watch that may not be worn daily, and it positions the 6R5H comfortably ahead of the standard 38-42 hour automatic movements that competitors deploy at this price point.
FIVEFORTYFIVE SIX MONTHS WARRANTY
